Book picks similar to
Heart of a Monster by Shain Rose
mafia
romance
dark-romance
dnf
Ruthless Stranger
Maggie Cole - 2021
One I can’t see, only feel, thanks to my friends who make a deal with him on my behalf.No names. No personal details. No face to etch into my mind.Just him, me, and an expensive silk tie.What happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas.He warns me he’s full of danger.I never see that side of him. All I experience is his Russian accent, delicious scent, and touch that lights me on fire.One incredible night turns into two. Then we go our separate ways.But fate doesn't keep us apart. When I run into my stranger back in Chicago, I know it’s him, even if I’ve never seen his icy blue eyes before.Our craving is hotter than Vegas. But he never lied.He’s a ruthless man…”Ruthless Stranger” is the jaw-dropping first installment of the “Mafia Wars” series. It’s an interconnecting, stand-alone Dark Mafia Romance, guaranteed to have an HEA.
Tangled Love
Haley Jenner - 2020
A bloody and vengeful penance for wrong doing. She was our way to inflict pain and suffering on those who took away what was most important to us. She was supposed to be a no one. Insignificant. She wasn’t supposed to make me smile. She wasn’t supposed to make me laugh. She sure wasn’t supposed to make me feel anything other than hate. She wasn’t supposed to make me love her. She was a means to an end. Now the bloody and vengeful end looks to be mine. Because it now comes down to love or loyalty and it’s on me to decide what reigns absolute; heart or family.
Scorned Princess
Eva Chance - 2021
Marry a man I might eventually love, forge an alliance between his gang and my father's, and get out from under Dad's sadistic thumb.Turns out my fiancé has other plans. Like slaughtering me and my entire family the night before the wedding.I make it out alive, left with nothing but a thirst for vengeance. But if I want to crush the prick who betrayed me, I have to turn to the biggest pricks of them all.Hot, cocky, and dangerous, Wylder Noble and his men rule Paradise Bend. Their help doesn't come cheap. I've got to prove I'm strong enough to deserve it.Whatever they throw at me, I can take it. No taunting words or scorching looks will break the wall around my heart.They think I'm made of glass? I'm a girl of shards that can cut you to the bone.Before this is over, someone's going to bleed. And this time, it won't be me.*Scorned Princess is the first in a new gritty contemporary romance series from bestselling author Eva Chase (writing as Eva Chance) and Harlow King. No major triggers, but be prepared for domineering men who make their own rules, a rebellious heroine who's not afraid to get her hands dirty, and an enemies-to-lovers romance where the girl gets all the guys. It's going to be a wild, bloody ride!*
Tramp
Mary Elizabeth - 2020
After fleeing a tragic past, Lydia’s determined never to go back to the life she left behind at any price. She lands in Grand Haven, California—a city booming with billion dollar corporations and tech money—and everything changes. Armed with the only lesson she learned from her mother, Lydia builds a life of routine, solitude, and success. Nothing is out of reach when you’re beautiful. Nearly a decade after her arrival, Lydia's the highest paid escort in the city, and only the most influential people in Grand Haven can get near her. She's a goddess among her clients, and out of reach to everyone else. Lydia's created the perfect illusion, and no one will take it from her again.Until a misunderstanding lands her in the office of the city’s most eligible bachelor. Talent Ridge is Grand Haven royalty. Despite running in the same circles as Lydia’s clients, he’s scandal-free and on his way to being the most powerful man in the area. Their chemistry is undeniable, but a relationship has the potential to destroy everything they’ve worked for. Especially when Lydia is running from her past, and Talent is running toward a future she can never be a part of. Beauty and money can’t save them this time. Are Lydia and Talent willing to give it all up for each other, or will their differences cost too much?
Keeping My Bride
Angela Snyder - 2021
It contains adult content for mature readers.
Cruel Daddy
Bianca Cole - 2022
Cruelty is his middle name, and I'm at his mercy. My father has kept me locked away in an ivory tower. I thought he wanted to protect me, but he only wanted to protect his asset. An untouched, sheltered mob princess is worth a lot of money to the right buyer. My father's greed means Sicily is no longer big enough for him. I'm shipped across the Atlantic to Boston to marry a man I've never met, whose reputation for cruelty reaches as far as the shores of Sicily. Milo Mazzeo is as dark as they come. He's a ruthless don with no morals, and he's about to become my husband. It's clear from the moment we meet that we have nothing in common. Once we say I do, he tells me that I'm his possession.I must do whatever he says. I'm nothing more than a slave to tend to his every whim and need. If he thinks I'm going to accept my fate without a fight, he is mistaken. I always expected to marry for love, but all I feel is hate toward this beautiful beast. They say there is a fine line between love and hate. Could the fire of hatred really twist into something more? Cruel Daddy is the first book in the Boston Mafia Doms Series by Bianca Cole. This book is a safe story with no cliffhangers and a happily ever after ending. This story has some dark themes, forced intimacy, hot scenes, violence, content some readers may find upsetting, and bad language. It features an over the top, twisted and possessive Italian crime boss.
Make Me Lie
C.R. Jane - 2021
And I may have been his accomplice.But no one knows for sure except for me.The dangerous, cruel men of the Sphinx secret society intend to uncover my secrets…and break me.Stellan, my childhood crush who lost his sister to the Demon.Cain, the boy with the face of an angel to who manipulation comes as easy as breathing;Remington, the playboy soccer star full of secrets.Pax, the dark psycho who hides behind his fists.I hoped for a second chance at Darkwood University, only to have my dream ripped away the first time I kissed one of the handsome bastards.They know who I am.And they're determined to make me pay.They should have thought twice about who they were playing with.Because I am the demon’s daughter. And just because they have the power, the connections, the faces and bodies of gods… do they really think they’ll win?I wanted a new life, not a war.But if they insist, we’ll see who ends up playing.
Mafia Mistress
Mila Finelli - 2021
Not many have the courage for what needs to be done to maintain power . . .but I do.And I always get what I want—including my son's fiancée.She's mine now, and I'll use Francesca any way I see fit. She's the perfect match to my twisted desires, and I'll keep her close, ready and waiting at my disposal.Even if she fights me at every turn.FRANCESCAI was stolen away and held prisoner in Italy, a bride for a mafia king's only heir.Except I'm no innocent, and it's the king himself—the man called il Diavolo—who appeals to me in sinful ways I never dreamed. Fausto's wickedness draws me in, his power like a drug.And when the devil decides he wants me, I'm helpless to resist him—even if it means giving myself to him, body and soul.He may think he can control me, but this king is about to find out who's really the boss.MAFIA MISTRESS is a full-length mafia romance written by a USA Today Bestselling author. It's the first book in the Italian Kings duet, **not** a standalone.
Merciless
Willow Winters - 2018
Women like her are made to destroy men like me. I couldn’t resist her though. Given to me to start a war; I was too eager to accept. But I didn’t know what she’d do to me. That she would change everything. She sees through me in a way no one else ever has. Her innocence and vulnerability make me weak for her and I hate it.I know better than to give in to temptation.A ruthless man doesn’t let a soul close to him.A cold-hearted man doesn’t risk anything for anyone.A powerful man with a beautiful woman at his mercy… he doesn’t fall for her.
Love at First Fight
Carrie Aarons - 2020
Since the moment Smith Redfield laid eyes on me, he’s hated my guts. I’m serious, I think the raven-haired restaurateur gets physically sick just being in my presence. And he’s never been shy about hiding that fact. There was the time he cackled when I landed face first in a pile of Manhattan trash bags. Or the night I tried to throw my ex-boyfriend a surprise party, and Smith had strippers crash the bash. Or maybe it was New Year's Eve, when he got in my face and called me a sheltered goody two-shoes who wouldn’t know passion if it smacked me in the lips. He’s rooming right next door for the summer months, and I don’t think more animosity could exist than in the hallway of our vacation rental. As if I wasn’t already sporting a bruised ego and broken heart from the way his best friend left me. But the more midnight run-ins we have, the more I can’t help but think about the way his mouth would feel against mine. With each heavy-eyed glance over the dinner table, I’m starting to wonder if the damaged alpha male doesn’t harbor more than just loathing towards me. After all, they say hate is the closest emotion to love. And with the way we’re skating that thin line, it’s bound to burn this whole house down.
Sweet Mercy
K.A. Tucker - 2019
Tucker comes the dark and steamy Empire Nightclub series.One visit to my father in prison—convicted for a murder he didn’t commit—and I’ve attracted the attention of the last man I’d ever want knowing that I exist.Gabriel Easton.Son of an infamous crime boss. Deplorable womanizer. Scoundrel to the core.Worse, he has figured out how desperate I am to protect my father from brutality behind bars. He has the power to grant that protection, and he has offered it … for a price.Me.I'll do anything for my father, including agree to Gabriel's cruel game. But I won't comply with his every whim and wish. Unfortunately for me, I think my loathing for him is what he’s enjoying most.That's fine. By the time I’m through with him, he’ll be crying my name.Mercy.
A Bullet Between Us (The Moretti Crime Family)
K. Dosal - 2021
Terrified under the brittle moon, I’d been left behind as blood swept into the pristine snow. I’d closed my eyes and waited for the afterlife, welcoming it.Death had never come for me, but it ended the life I once knew. Now, I lived in fear, running from a world ruled by vicious men. An organized world where power and violence had no limit. And I was in the middle of it all. It’d led me to him, Ilias. But in this world, my nightmare was etched in the face of every man I stumbled upon. I didn’t trust anyone, but my heart trusted him.Even while my mind kept a bullet between us. ILIASI was given an assignment, an order. Failure wasn’t an option. Not when it meant her, Davina. But how could I keep her alive? I was no hero. Just a man dressed as one, with a heart as corrupted as the same men I grew up with.
Devil’s Lair
Anna Zaires - 2021
Must be willing to relocate to a remote mountain estate. $3K/week cash.On the run from ruthless killers, I’m down to ten bucks in my wallet and a half-tank of gas in my ancient car when I spot the ad. The job sounds like the answer to my prayers, but there’s a catch.The child’s father is the most beautiful, most dangerous man I’ve ever met.Darkly seductive and filthy rich, Nikolai Molotov is a tantalizing mystery, a lethally alluring contradiction. Bruised knuckles and tailored suits, tender endearments and dirty promises—my new employer draws me in like a magnet, even as my instincts scream for me to run. I should’ve heeded them… because I’m not the only one with secrets.My safe haven just might be the devil’s lair, and once he’s claimed me, it will be too late to run.
The Ritual
Shantel Tessier - 2021
You vow. We vow.Barrington University is home of the Lords, a secret society that requires their blood in payment. They are above all—the most powerful men in the world. They devote their lives to violence in exchange for power. And during their senior year, they are offered a chosen one.People think growing up with money is freeing, but I promise you, it’s not. My entire life has been planned out for me. I never got the chance to do what I wanted until Ryat Alexander Archer came along and gave me an option for a better life. He offered me what no one else ever had—freedom.I chose to be his. He made me believe that anyway, but it was just another lie. A way that the Lords manipulate you into doing what they want.After being sucked into the dark, twisted world of the Lords, I embraced my new role and allowed Ryat to parade me around like the trophy I was to him. But like all things, what started out as a game soon became a fight for survival. And the only way out was death.Things to know about The RitualIt is MFTRIGGER WARNINGS (Please see the author's note on the inside)J/P & OTT Hero (jealous/possessive & over the top)This is a 150K word dark romance and may contain triggers for some due to sexual situations, language, and violence.
Vibe
Liza James - 2020
No, I should be working on solidifying my ladder of ascension. No matter what the cost or what I had to give up. No matter what they made me do. Their little wildflower, that’s who I am. Quiet, meek, gullible. Until I met the one person who changed all of it and became something more. She’s my filthiest secret. And one I intend on taking to the grave. Ruby Another night at the club I work at—Pandora’s Box. Another dance, another tease, another round of shots and callously thrown dollar bills. Until her. Until the energy shifted and one moment became the only thing that mattered. Because she changed everything, claiming my attention and making it hers. My dangerous little mistake, my favorite enticing regret.My Vibe Girl.Trigger Warning: This book confronts several issues that could be potential triggers. It also contains sexual scenes written in explicit details. It is incredibly dark, please be aware when stepping into this world.